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<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/jan/09/wayne-rooney-manchester-united" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... ter-united</a>
Nobody thinks Wayne Rooney is the new Gazza any more. And that's a good thing. For after he illuminated Euro 2004 with his brilliance, many foresaw a phenomenal but short career. There were even fears that the prodigy had already peaked, and it would be downhill from here. The boy's incendiary genius was instinctive but would burn out; his body-shape was not conducive to a long run at the top and his background and mentality made him ill-equipped for the rigours of adulation and a profession, and the temptations of wealth. He would get flabby and frustrated. His brashness would be occluded by his recklessness. He would slowly, sadly self-destruct.
What a lot of shallow, snobby nonsense.
Rooney, it turns out, is more balanced and intelligent than such observers gave him credit for. Likewise his entourage appears more well intentioned than had been presumed. There is, however, at least one way in which Rooney does resemble Gazza: he is prone to splenetic acts of aggression, a little like the infamous FA Cup final tackle on Gary Charles that triggered the beginning of the end for Gazza. Yet it seems that all the public concern for Rooney has subliminally affected officials, for the Manchester United striker seems to receive more compassion from referees than any other Premier League player. It is amazing that he has not been sent off in this country since December 2002.
For many seasons English referees have overlooked or somehow failed to see blatant Rooney offences. Normally teenage firebrands calm as they get older, but Rooney's offences are becoming more common – even though the average number of yellow and red cards he's received has actually dipped since the 2005-06 season. Last weekend, for instance, he crudely chopped down a Southampton defender for no good reason. Perhaps he was frustrated at all the chances he has been missing recently, just as he appeared to be when sticking in a brutal, late two-footed tackle on Niko Kranjcar as Portsmouth eliminated United from the FA Cup last March. Both times he should have been sent off, neither time did he see red. He went similarly unpunished at Stoke on Boxing Day after his elbow jerked angrily in the direction of Abdoulaye Faye's face.
English referees have lived through the Gazza comparisons and have also heard the ubiquitous claim that "to take away that side of his game is to diminish Rooney as a player", so it would be understandable if they tolerated Rooney lunges, or his frequent rants, because they are subconsciously thinking "the poor lad can't help it".
They have also been exposed to the sinister campaign against the Argentine official and a certain "Portuguese winker" when Rooney was deservedly sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho in the 2006 World Cup. They would be forgiven, then, for fearing that to dismiss Rooney would be to bring a storm of disingenuous scorn on themselves or some other poor unfortunate, or even the sort of official hostility that Graham Poll encountered when he expelled another England darling, John Terry.
Non-English referees are less exposed to this cant. Perhaps that is why Rooney has been sent off three times abroad; that toll would likely be higher if Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson had not pre-emptively substituted him on at least three occasions (against Spain, Villarreal and in a friendly with Kaizer Chiefs). Yet even abroad Rooney can benefit from strangely benign officiating, whether in Northern Ireland in 2005, when anger transformed him into a dangerous anarchist, or in Denmark and Uefa HQ last month when no sanction ensued from his ugly clash with the prostrate Aalborg midfielder Kasper Risgard.
The stakes and tension will be high when Manchester United meet Chelsea on Sunday. Will Rooney be able to contain himself? And if he doesn't, will the referee notice?
Nobody thinks Wayne Rooney is the new Gazza any more. And that's a good thing. For after he illuminated Euro 2004 with his brilliance, many foresaw a phenomenal but short career. There were even fears that the prodigy had already peaked, and it would be downhill from here. The boy's incendiary genius was instinctive but would burn out; his body-shape was not conducive to a long run at the top and his background and mentality made him ill-equipped for the rigours of adulation and a profession, and the temptations of wealth. He would get flabby and frustrated. His brashness would be occluded by his recklessness. He would slowly, sadly self-destruct.
What a lot of shallow, snobby nonsense.
Rooney, it turns out, is more balanced and intelligent than such observers gave him credit for. Likewise his entourage appears more well intentioned than had been presumed. There is, however, at least one way in which Rooney does resemble Gazza: he is prone to splenetic acts of aggression, a little like the infamous FA Cup final tackle on Gary Charles that triggered the beginning of the end for Gazza. Yet it seems that all the public concern for Rooney has subliminally affected officials, for the Manchester United striker seems to receive more compassion from referees than any other Premier League player. It is amazing that he has not been sent off in this country since December 2002.
For many seasons English referees have overlooked or somehow failed to see blatant Rooney offences. Normally teenage firebrands calm as they get older, but Rooney's offences are becoming more common – even though the average number of yellow and red cards he's received has actually dipped since the 2005-06 season. Last weekend, for instance, he crudely chopped down a Southampton defender for no good reason. Perhaps he was frustrated at all the chances he has been missing recently, just as he appeared to be when sticking in a brutal, late two-footed tackle on Niko Kranjcar as Portsmouth eliminated United from the FA Cup last March. Both times he should have been sent off, neither time did he see red. He went similarly unpunished at Stoke on Boxing Day after his elbow jerked angrily in the direction of Abdoulaye Faye's face.
English referees have lived through the Gazza comparisons and have also heard the ubiquitous claim that "to take away that side of his game is to diminish Rooney as a player", so it would be understandable if they tolerated Rooney lunges, or his frequent rants, because they are subconsciously thinking "the poor lad can't help it".
They have also been exposed to the sinister campaign against the Argentine official and a certain "Portuguese winker" when Rooney was deservedly sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho in the 2006 World Cup. They would be forgiven, then, for fearing that to dismiss Rooney would be to bring a storm of disingenuous scorn on themselves or some other poor unfortunate, or even the sort of official hostility that Graham Poll encountered when he expelled another England darling, John Terry.
Non-English referees are less exposed to this cant. Perhaps that is why Rooney has been sent off three times abroad; that toll would likely be higher if Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson had not pre-emptively substituted him on at least three occasions (against Spain, Villarreal and in a friendly with Kaizer Chiefs). Yet even abroad Rooney can benefit from strangely benign officiating, whether in Northern Ireland in 2005, when anger transformed him into a dangerous anarchist, or in Denmark and Uefa HQ last month when no sanction ensued from his ugly clash with the prostrate Aalborg midfielder Kasper Risgard.
The stakes and tension will be high when Manchester United meet Chelsea on Sunday. Will Rooney be able to contain himself? And if he doesn't, will the referee notice?